Cadiz or bust

Team GBR 470 sailor Nick Rogers discusses his recent silver at Athens and looks forward to Cadiz

At the Pre-Olympics last Team GBR 470 sailors Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield put in their most stonking performance to date, picking up the silver behind the Swedish team of Johan Molund and Martin Andersson and ahead of the Italians Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani.

For Rogers and Glanfield the silver medal came as just deserts after a disappointing outcome in the Europeans. The first two days in that regatta had seen the duo leading until some decidedly average results in the last three races caused them to lose their grip on the podium ending up fourth Europeans and fifth overall (the race was won by the Americans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham). "That was a missed opportunity," agrees Rogers. "We really threw that away."

The Pre-Olympics was an although different affair. "We were sailing on top form, up to speed and it has been our best result so far to date. We’re really pleased with it," says Rogers.

"We ground out a result. It was really long event. I think a lot of people got distracted and just ran out of steam, because you had days off when you weren’t racing and there was only one discard, so you could never let your finger off the pulse."

As ever consistency paid and despite winning only one race, their scorecard included eight positions in the top 10. "We kept on putting in the good results and it all fell into place," says Rogers.



One occasioin when it didn't fall into place was in the eighth race. "Someone won a race by 20 minutes and only four boats, and we were fifth and we missed the time limit by 6 seconds. I’m not too bitter about it because it wouldn’t have won us the event anyway. And then with only one discard it put our back to the wall. That gave us four boats with effectively two discards so it made it even harder to medal."

Weather-wise the regatta threw up what are considered to be typical Athens conditions. "They have two types of breeze and I would say they are 50-50. One is the Meltemi, an offshore breeze which is quite windy with flat water and the other is a classic Mediterranean sea breeze - generally lighter and more choppy. So two radically different conditions. I thought we could have done better in the offshore Meltemi, as that is our stronger point but as it turned out we sailed our best in the sea breeze. So we are quite pleased, it is nice to see that we can change style."

Naturally as sailors from the UK, Rogers admits that he and Glanfield are better when there is more wind and it is more shifty, because of their English heritage racing on lakes. Light sea breeze conditions they would like to improve sailing in once/if they qualify in at the Cadiz Worlds.

As with all of team GBR a good result at the mass World Championships in Cadiz is essential for getting the spot to Athens. "If we finish in the top three in Cadiz, we qualify no questions asked. We are the only English 470 who can do that. If we come in the top eight we may be picked depending upon our results leading into it - because of our results in Athens that bodes well. But really we are looking at top three because given any chance I’d like to win a World Championships before we go to the Olympics and also I would like to show that we can perform again within the top few because it shows strength."

If they don't make the top eight in Cadiz, then they are likely to go through a lengthy qualification process next spring which could take the form of one or possibly more selection series in Weymouth. "It is a good system for selection because we do have the opportunity to qualify early," says Rogers. "It is better than the system last time where everyone had to do the trials in Weymouth apart from one boat, so I think it is fair, I have no problems with it, but I am desperate to qualify in Cadiz..."

Compared to Athens, the weather in Cadiz is likely to be lighter, but come mid-September could be less predictable. "It is late in the year so we won’t be expecting strong sea breezes, but having said that it is late enough in the year that a low pressure could roll over Europe and you’d get the same as you’d get in England," continues Rogers. "That would be nice. I think if we were given a mix of wind ranges we’d win it. I think we would struggle to win it if it was one condition all week because Joe and I are more rounded sailors and we are not specific to one condition."

At present Rogers views the Swedes Johan Molund and Martin Andersson as the main competition. "They are the only person who have maintained form for all this year. The Australians [Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page] seem to have dropped off form. The Portugese [Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes] I also rate, along with Paul Foerster (and Kevin Burnham), the Americans, although they aren't sailing as well as they were at the beginning of the year."

Coaching-wise Rogers and Glanfield are using Kiwi three time 470 World Champion Hamish Wilcox, who has returned to the fold following his stint on the met team at OneWorld for the America's Cup. "This year our results are more consistent and better than we’ve had for a very long time. That’s been down to getting more coaching. Rob Andrews really helped us out at the beginning of the season with equipment which was fantastic and Hamish has been great - really solid racing and he’s really good on his met stuff as well."

In the UK briefly since finishing up in Athens Rogers and Glanfield are off to Cadiz this morning to check out the conditions, but will return to the UK for the week prior to the Worlds, so that they can go back there fresh. Olympic fatigue as possibly demonstrated by Paul Goodison when he bailed out of the Pre-Olympic regatta last week is not something they want to experience.

"Sailing is a mental sport and so I think you need to have your head in the right place at the right time and if that comes down to mental rehersal you do need time to do it," says Rogers. "You can over complicate it. A thing which Joe and I, which is personal to us, is we try to go training and then we try to make a clear break to make the definition between training and an event because each requires a different state of mind.

"When we train we focus on a lot of little minor points and you try to make them so that you can do them automatically without thinking. Then when an event comes you have got to be able to draw on all those different points. So you don’t want to be just focussing on tacking or gybing.

"A lot of it is about confidence and being ready to grind out a result. The 470s are so close, there are so many people who can do well, so you must never give up, always be prepared to take the knock and to keep racing as hard as you can."

Equipment-wise, Rogers and Glanfield are sailing with a MacKay hull from New Zealand, who they have used since 1998. Their sails are by North UK and they mix and match their masts. For Cadiz they will be using one from Super Spar while previous to this they have been running with Proctor. Their foils are more of an America's Cup secret squirrel affair. "With centreboards it is a black art as the stiffness is so critical. So that is something which we had kept in house."

They have other technical projects they would like to undertake, but will depend greatly upon when they qualify. "That is one of the things about qualifying early. If we don’t qualify in Cadiz, it could take until May to qualify. And then I would be very nervous about my Olympic campaign in a 470. For us it is a big deal qualifying in Cadiz."

What they do after the Worlds will depend a great deal on the outcome there. They will take some more time off to recharge and are then considering going to Australia for training from November until January.